Wednesday, 13 May 2009
MANILA, May 13 (PNA) -- The Committee on Government Reorganization of the House of Representatives has approved for plenary debate a measure creating the Land Administration Authority (LAA) to solve the disposition and titling problems of lands in the country.
Zamboanga City Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian, committee chair, said the panel report incorporates 11 other measures to centralize and integrate all land administration functions presently dispersed among various government agencies into one single agency and enable the land sector to contribute to economic growth and poverty alleviation.
The bill titled the "Land Administration Act of 2009" seeks to create the Land Administration Authority, the sole agency to prepare, issue and register all titles to land and subsequent dealings of registered lands, including all types of tenure instruments intended for the implementation of the Comprehensive and Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) and Indigenous People’s Rights Act.
Paranaque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, one of the authors of the bill, said the institutional and structural defects in land administration in the present set-up has given rise to major inefficiencies including extensive delays in the disposition and titling of alienable and disposable land, duplicate and fake titles and inaccurate and incomplete land records.
Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, co-author of the measure, said a fundamental prerequisite in the pursuit of necessary reforms is the consolidation and streamlining within a single government agency of land administration powers and functions.
At present, the Department of Justice's Land Registration Authority and Registries of Deeds, Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Land Management Bureau, Land Management Service in the regional, provincial and community offices, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and CARP Secretariat and its field offices are the ones involved in land disposition and titling.
Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado "Dato" Arroyo, also an author of the bill, said the measure aims to improve, rationalize and systematize the land records, titling, documentation and information systems into an open, updated and reliable system.
A fine of P100,000 and imprisonment of six to 12 years will be meted out on any person who fraudulently acquires lands of public domain.
Any person who tampers with any records of the LAA to acquire land rights or title shall be fined with P500,000 or imprisoned for 12 years or both.
Other authors of the bill are Reps. Solomon Chungalao (Ifugao), Jose Solis (2nd District, Sorsogon), Rodolfo Valencia (1st District, Oriental Mindoro), Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro), Salvador Escudero III (1st District, Sorsogon), Marcelino Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City),) Edgar Chatto (1st District, Bohol), Lorna Silverio (3rd District, Bulacan), Candido Pancrudo Jr. (1st District, Bukidnon), Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo (5th District, Negros Occidental), Matias Defensor Jr. (3rd District, Quezon City), Edcel Lagman (1st District, Albay), Junie Cua (Quirino), Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (1st District, Leyte), Arnulfo Go (2nd District, Sultan Kudarat), and Aurelio Gonzales Jr. (3rd District, Pampanga).
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